Author Archives: Dwight D. Sutherland, Jr.

The best movies are those which help us make sense of the often incomprehensible situations in which we find ourselves in our daily lives… One such move was 1990’s “The Grifters,” starring John Cusack, Annette Benning and Angelica Houston.  The three … Continue reading →

I was fortunate enough to be in Scotland two weeks ago for the referendum on Scottish Independence… The couple I was staying with were committed “No” voters but the town where they lived seemed to be evenly divided pro and … Continue reading →

Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” has a great scene where the protagonist is in a movie line listening to a self-important bore go on and on about the theories of the late media critic Marshall McLuhan… Then Allen’s alter-ego steps off … Continue reading →

Critic and scholar Sarah Churchwell – a native of Chicago’s North Shore(like Gatsby’s “Tom Buchanan”) – has written the most significant book about the artistry of F. Scott Fitzgerald in many a year… Churchwell is a graduate of Vassar and Princeton.  … Continue reading →

You win some, you lose some… “For there is something about a national convention that makes it as fascinating as a revival or a hanging.  It is vulgar.  It is stupid.  It is tedious; it is hard upon both the … Continue reading →

I have been in situations twice in my life where I sensed that I was in the presence of a very great evil… In 1976, I had press credentials from the Lawrence Journal World and used them to cover the … Continue reading →

Once more, our old buddie George Orwell gives us invaluable guidance on how to best deconstruct the pronouncements of the Kansas City Star editorial board… In the phrase above, taken from Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, we hear the classic voice of authoritarianism. … Continue reading →

   “Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the room…But what was strange was that although the Kochs were hated and despised by everybody, although every day, and a thousand times … Continue reading →

 I was at a party with my son and his wife two years ago when another young couple came up and introduced themselves. Their names were Sydney and Beatriz Williams.  Beatriz told us about a book she’d just finished and … Continue reading →

I was wondering how long it would take the Kansas City Star to place the blame for Sunday’s shootings at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park on conservatives… Forty-eight hours after its first story appeared the Star ran an … Continue reading →

 “Po’ Folks” was the name of a treacly country and western song from 1961 by “Whisperin” Bill Anderson.  It’s about a family so poor that even a wolf would know not to bother coming to their front door without bringing … Continue reading →

One of the most well known uses of allegory is by the Greek philosopher Plato, who meant it to illustrate the limited understanding we have of life’s events given our narrow perspective.  He gave the example of people chained to … Continue reading →

When I left Nallwood Junior High in Overland Park for Pembroke Country Day almost 50 years ago, I felt a sense of liberation and elation… I was leaving the land of Beatle boots, I.D. bracelets, and tight pants (plus mullet-style … Continue reading →

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down what many saw as a troubling decision.. In Employment Division v. Smith, the Court held that an American Indian was not exempted from a criminal law prohibiting use of hallucinogenic drugs, even … Continue reading →